Volver!

I have been less than excellent in updating this blog.  Quite evident from the month lapse since my last entry, ok 2 month lapse.  The biking took up much of my free time, but it was not so much that as the changes and rethinking that’s been going on.  A process that I’ve been reluctant to open up and write about because it would reveal a bit of uncertainty, shiftiness, and untogetherness…

But wait!  If you can decipher the URL of this blog (which many people can’t, as a friend pointed out), it reads www. A BIT UNTOGETHER . com,  taken from an article in Prospect Magazine on climate change.  The article discussed how the proponents of fossil fuel dependence have actual facts and historical experience to draw from, whereas those taking climate change seriously seem “a bit untogether” with their ‘radical’ visions of the future.  Yet, it is they who are being more pragmatic in their longer and more honest view of things.  Thus the merits of acknowledging weak points and moving forward, whether or not it is in an entirely confident way or not.

Yet here I am with 2 months missing in my blog, wherein some important realizations occurred but remained unreported.  Still a bit of that pride, security dependence, corporate I-must-know-where-I’m-going kind of cocktail in there.  Even now I have to be wary of trying to post rationalize ias I write this, but the story goes….

Medical and relief missions were moving along OK, but honestly after 2 months I started looking for something more (maybe also getting a bit bored).  People were still in evacuation centers, still receiving dole-outs, I started to wonder how to help them move on, beyond giving them food good for 2 days or so.  Also a conversation with a friend shed some light on what I was feeling.  He said “you need to figure out what your cause is, what it is that you’re really passionate about, so that you stay committed to whatever it is your doing.  After you figure that out you can start to look for the right organization and role”.  Made sense…I did kind of crash the party without any plan.

Enter some counter-productive soul searching, and my apologies to some colleagues at Red Cross who may have noticed a level of slack setting in.  Shame.  Wise words from Dad – “it’s seems hard to do cause-related work, it’s like it’s immoral to be lazy!”.  Sigh. Luckily the soul searching yielded some realizations: I’d be better utilizing my skills and experiences in project based, longer term, developmental work as opposed to aid and relief work.  Also there was architecture!  I had made the decision to take a break from it, but I started realizing that the spaces and environmentin which people work, play, rest, LIVE, are what I am really, really into.

Add a brand new custom made bicycle to the mix and there is me cycling around Manila with lofty ideas fluffing up in my mind.  Inspiration from old buildings, vibrant street scenes, and architectural gems hiding in plain sight.  Also some nifty ideas for bike accessories but more on that later   Some chance encounters, revived ideas with good friends, and some brainstorming land me on a trip to Naga with 2 friends from out of town.  Buzzing with ideas and high on inspiration the three of us visit Gawad Kalinga villages in the area with a cool, design-oriented livelihood project slowly forming in our minds.

More on that to come!

PS..ooh the reason the world “Volver” was at the top of my mind: I love these clips!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Lp4i4IzaIc



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